Bosch Rexroth production planner Nicole Arendt remembers the hottest day of June 2013 very well. That was when she was given the go-ahead for a forward-thinking project at the company’s assembly plant in Homburg, Germany. Not the best of days to be at your most creative, she thought. But that was exactly what was required of the project team as they pondered their options in a meeting room at the invitation of project manager Andreas Jenke.
“We were given the task of building a versatile ‘Industry 4.0’ line,” recalls production planner Berthold Roser. “The subject of this connected industry was nothing new. And it was clear that the new technologies could help us respond to changes in the market with greater speed and flexibility. But at the start, we were certainly asking ourselves what this type of line might actually look like.”